Online Zoning; Offline Zoning - Brocade Communications Systems Brocade BladeSystem 4/24 User Manual

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Online zoning

Online zoning allows you to do the following:
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NOTE
Online zoning is supported only in Brocade Native mode (InteropMode 0) and in a mixed Fabric OS
and M-EOS McDATA Fabric Mode (InteropMode 2).
For pure EOS fabrics in McDATA Fabric Mode (InteropMode 2) or McDATA Open Mode (InteropMode
3) and for mixed Fabric OS and M-EOS fabrics in McDATA Open Mode, only offline zoning is available.

Offline zoning

Offline zoning enables you to copy a fabric zone DB and edit it offline. The benefits to offline zoning
include the following:
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QoS zones
Assign high or low priority to designated traffic flows. Quality of Service (QoS) zones are normal
zones with additional QoS attributes that you select when you create the zone.
Traffic Isolation zones (TI zones)
Isolate inter-switch traffic to a specific, dedicated path through the fabric. See
zoning" on page 594 for more information.
View both defined and active zone information in the fabric.
Create and modify zones and zone configurations in the software zone database.
Activate a zone configuration in order to publish the zone information in the selected fabric.
Deactivate the current active zone configuration.
Configure zoning policies in the selected fabric.
Generate zoning reports for the fabric.
You want to make changes to the zone database now, but apply them later.
For example:
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If you make incremental changes to zoning on an ongoing basis, but want to apply the
changes to the fabric during scheduled downtime.
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If you are expecting new servers to be delivered, but want to make changes to zoning now
and apply the changes after the servers are delivered and ready to go online.
You want to keep multiple copies of the zone database and switch between them.
For example, if you want to allow specific servers access to tape drives for backup during
specific time windows, you can have multiple zone databases (one or more for backup and one
for normal operation) and switch between them easily.
You want to analyze the impact of changes to storage access before applying the changes.
For example, if you deploy a new server and want to ensure that the zoning changes result in
only the new server gaining access to specific storage devices and nothing else. See
"Comparing zone databases" on page 600.
"Traffic isolation
DCFM Professional Plus User Manual
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